Final Thoughts

The January import licenses are catching what one domestic mill callls, “Taiwanese January onslaught on Galvalume” as it trends toward 100,000+ net tons for the month (from less than 40,000 tons in December). This is what the mill had to say about pricing in general: “We keep moving our HR and CR up. Coated is a bit more challenging due to timing. General line service center spot is moving up, but in building products we face the Taiwanese January onslaught on Galvalume and old man winter. Not sure which is worse, but they are both hitting hard. Holding on coated, but have a good feeling about pentup demand going forward. Our customer forecasts are strong on our program buyers [contracts].”

We learned earlier today that HARDI wholesalers are seeing good business trends. There were a number of wholesalers who reported strong sales in December, and January is on pace to be yet another good month. Their biggest complaint is one that I hear from just about everyone that competes with service centers – the lack of margin due to some of the distributors selling off of cost versus taking into consideration replacement costs (and where prices may be headed in the future). I spoke with a plate steel mill on Monday and heard the same complaint pointed at plate service centers who sell below replacement costs.